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EU Court Upholds Block on Booking's €1.63 Billion Etraveli Deal, Leaving Expedia Room to Buy
Europe's General Court upheld the European Commission's 2023 decision to prohibit Booking Holdings' roughly €1.63 billion ($1.9 billion) acquisition of Swedish flight specialist Etraveli. The ruling limits Booking's dealmaking in Europe just as Expedia Group presses ahead with acquisitions of its own.
The General Court in Europe ruled Wednesday against Booking Holdings' appeal, confirming the European Commission's 2023 prohibition of the company's roughly €1.63 billion ($1.9 billion) purchase of Etraveli, a Swedish flights specialist that had been a Booking partner.
The court backed the Commission's finding that flight bookings act as a low-margin customer-acquisition channel, drawing travelers into Booking's higher-margin hotel business and strengthening the online travel group's position in the core market where regulators determined it holds a "dominant position."
The practical effect is that Booking must assemble its Connected Trip strategy organically rather than through acquisitions of the kind it pursued with Etraveli.
Expedia Group has taken the opposite route. The company has completed acquisitions this year, including Tiqets and Cartrawler, as it works to expand its B2B partner business.
The consequences reach past the two travel companies. Businesses such as Uber would face a harder path in advancing superapp strategies across Europe if regulators concluded they hold dominant positions in particular markets.
The case is being watched across European travel and other sectors as a test of how far merger enforcement will extend.